Asset allocation brought from US

Dina de Angelo, director at Pictet Investment Management in London and the driving force behind the firm’s family office business, has dedicated her career to understanding the nature of complex multi-national family structures and investments around the world, and has gained a respected reputation in the industry as a solution-oriented professional. “I was taught that you should not talk at clients, that you do not need to worry about a transaction, because wealth management is not about one transaction, and you always need to listen before saying anything, and really consider what your client, or perspective client, is saying to you,” says Ms de Angelo. What she thinks women bring to the work place and men sometimes lack is a dimension of “emotional stability and calmness,” although many men can see the value of this. “Men typically are focussed on a transaction,” she says. Bankers, especially in the UK, came into the business from deal-oriented stock-broking or investment banking training courses. But especially at uncertain times like this, when clients need reassurance, women can “turn down the highs and bring up the lows a bit,” she says. “Women in wealth management tend to look at the bigger picture and the repercussion that an action can have.” Concentrating on the broader picture and long term horizons led Ms de Angelo to introduce the asset allocation concept into the UK, after it had already made a breakthrough in the US, where she worked for multi-family office Bessemer Trust. “Asset allocation was a relatively unheard of concept in the UK ten years ago,” when it was more about day to day picking of bonds and stocks. “If I look back in my career, that was the most important idea. At that time, it was really groundbreaking.” But the landscape of wealth creation has changed dramatically and new challenges lie ahead. Wealth is being created in different parts of the world, and Ms de Angelo’s frequent trips to Asia follow the source of wealth creation. “It is important for me to understand the different cultures to be able to communicate effectively,” she says. “I need to understand how people have made their money, which is often new money, and what’s important to them and focus on how to preserve and enhance that wealth for the next decades.” But in terms of career steps, Ms de Angelo has no doubts: “I have an amazing job, I had an amazing career, I learnt something new every day, but it’s my choice not to go to the chief executive position, which would be my next step, because I still want to see my children and I want my life.”

“Women in wealth management tend to look at the bigger picture”